Dallas mayor says 'serious opportunity' for Chiefs to relocate

Eric Johnson, mayor of Dallas, wants to relocate the reigning Super Bowl champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, to his city. He believes that he has a "serious opportunity" to make it happen.

"Welcome home Dallas Texans," Johnson posted on X earlier this week. The Chiefs were originally known as the Dallas Texans, playing in the American Football League in 1960. Lamar Hunt, owner of the team, moved them to Kansas City in 1963 and renamed them the Chiefs.

According to Johnson, he spoke with Clark Hunt, the son of Lamar Hunt and the current owner of the Chiefs, but he didn't disclose any detail. "I'm not really at liberty to say other than I have a good open line of communication with Clark Hunt," Johnson told The Athletic. "And that line of communication remains."

Dallas now has an NFL team, the Cowboys, though they play in Arlington, which is about 20 miles away from Dallas. Stats from the U.S. Census Bureau showed that Dallas-Fort Worth witnessed a population growth of about 23.1 percent since 2010, bigger than any metropolitan area in the country during that time frame. It may become the third-largest metro area by the 2030s.

Johnson saw that prospect as a good economic argument for having the second NFL team in Dallas. "When the NFL looks at the next round of expansion, they will not find an American city where there is not an NFL franchise currently that will be a more lucrative or faster-growing market to put a team," the mayor said.

Both of the top two metro areas, Los Angeles and New York, have two NFL teams: the Rams and the Chargers for LA and the Giants and the Jets for New York.

Johnson revealed that he discussed with Jerry Jones, owner of the Cowboys, the idea of adding a second NFL team to Dallas a few years ago. Jones rejected the idea, but Johnson hasn't given up.

"You never say never because he's a businessman and he's in the business of making money," Johnson told The Athletic. "There is a strong argument to make that the Cowboys' franchise value is not tied to the city it plays in or is connected with. It's an international phenomenon at this point."

Three teams have relocated in the NFL in the past 14 years: the Rams from St. Louis to LA in 2016, the Chargers from San Diego to LA in 2017 and the Raiders from Oakland to Las Vegas in 2020.